Tag Archives: CTE

At the recent SEC media days, Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban told journalists that the concussion issue may be overblown as it relates to football.

“We’re all working very hard on for player safety so that we don’t have issues,” he said in an interview. “But I think it’s a little unfair in some ways to football when there’s other sports that you never talk about that people seem to be totally fine with that actually have just as many or more issues when it comes to concussions and injuries as football does. But we always talk about the issues that we have in football.”

He added that the benefits of playing football still outweigh the negatives.

“It’s a great team game,” he said. “There are a lot of lessons to be learned in any athletic competition, but football — because of the number of participants and number of people who can contribute — is phenomenal. It was really good for me growing up to develop some of the attributes that it takes to be successful, whether it was commitment, hard work, perseverance, ability to overcome adversity, pride in performance. Every person has to weigh the advantages and disadvantages.”

Here’s the table of contents of the July 2017 (Vol. 6, No. 1) issue of Concussion Litigation Reporter, which features timely reporting on developments and legal strategies at the intersection of sports and concussions.

“I’ve also started to feel the effects of the hits that I took in my career. My memory ain’t what it used to be… So when it comes to concussions, CTE and how we can make our game safer for future generations, I wanted to put my two cents in – to help leave the game better off than it was when I started playing.”

In the video, Sapp discussed his hope for the future of football, his anger at hearing NFL owners deny the CTE crisis, the memory problems he is experiencing in retirement, and his belief that children should not play tackle football until high school.

Sapp is a 7-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle and Super Bowl Champion. He played 13 years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders.